Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.

By Harlan Levy

Temu ridiculous adventure

It all started when my wife received an email offer from the unbelievably low-price online Chinese retailer Temu — where she often shops — for creating a double-sided photo pillowcase for only $4.82 with pillow inserts at $13.36.

The pillows were a very cool potential gift for our kids, so she sent in three family photos and ordered three 14-by-14 pillows.

The first pillow of our daughter-in-law and youngest grandchild arrived with the photos cropped weirdly. Temu cut off half the faces. She complained, and the website gave her a choice of sending them back and getting a cash refund or keeping them and getting a credit on the site. She chose the credit and reordered the pillows, being very careful to crop the photo to contain the full images, also filing the entire square.

Two of them (with our daughter, husband, and grandson and the second featuring my wife and two granddaughters) arrived exactly as she wanted with a very clear and vibrant reproduction.

Then there was the third one. Temu not only added a missing portion of our daughter-in-law’s face, supplying an ear that was not in the photo and is definitely not hers. “But,” my wife said with a laugh “who is that person on the right? We have no idea. Was this AI? Is it someone from someone else’s order? Is it someone from another planet? I am not even sure if it is a man or a woman.”

My wife does not give up easily. She requested a refund and tried again. “As they say, third time’s the charm,” she said, hopefully.

As of press time the pillows have not yet arrived. I‘ll show a photo of the new pillows when they come.

Advice: When dealing with Temu, don’t be surprised what it sends you. This reminds me of the six yoga pads my wife ordered a few years ago. From the photos you couldn’t tell that the items were miniatures, 2-feet long. Good for a laugh.

Pennies 

The state Department of Consumer Protection is advising businesses to round down charges to the nearest five cents if they are unable to make exact change for consumers paying with cash, due to the national penny shortage.

Connecticut law requires that a customer cannot be charged more for paying with cash than another method of payment.

Examples: If a customer’s total is $19.97, and she or he cannot pay the exact total, and the store cannot make exact change of 3 cents, the business should only charge the customer $19.95.

Or if a customer’s total is $1.04, and he or she cannot pay the exact total, and the store cannot make exact change of 1 cent, the business should only charge the customer $1.

Now you know.

NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.

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